Tuesday March 1, 2005 5:49 pm

DecalGirl Skins Your iPod, Xbox, Gamecube, Nintendo DS, And More

If you have ever wanted a way to make your tech a bit more personalized, DecalGirl has your hookup. DecalGirl makes high quality skin decals for all sorts of devices, including the Nintendo DS, iPod (3G, 4G, shuffle, mini), Xbox, Gamecube, PS2, etc. We got a few skins in house to test them out, and I must say we came away impressed. More pictures, along with our thoughts, after the jump.

First, I need to start off with what I thought was the best skin we saw. This Nintendo Gamecube skin is so detailed that after it is applied, it literally looks like the Gamecube was made this way. Even when just a few feet away, it is hard to tell that a decal skin had been applied. That is obviously a sign that DecalGirl did something right here. Now, with that said, skinning the Gamecube was the most difficult out of all the products we tested. The decal pieces are shaped to fit the Gamecube, which results in a few quirky pieces that can be frustrating to position exactly as they need to be. A few times I had to remove and reapply a piece to get it just right - but that might just be me and my wanting everything to be perfect. In the end, the Gamecube skin is definately a winner. They even have one that makes your Gamecube look similar to the original Nintendo Entertainment System!

Here is what a DecalGirl Gamecube Skin looks like before it is applied.

DecalGirl also has some very interesting Nintendo DS Skins. While I liked the look of many of them on their website, the one we received I wasn’t that impressed with. Don’t get me wrong, it looked okay, but it didn’t blow me away as much as the Gamecube skin did. From some angles, it even made the DS look cheap, like a plastic toy. I truly believe that it was the skin chosen, however, and that the right skin would look excellent on the Nintendo DS. The decal doesn’t get in the way while playing the DS, nor does it distract your eyes or hinder the sound of the system in any way.

We took a look at one of the more simpler skins as well, in terms of application ease. The 4G iPod skin can be applied in about a minute, and protects the entire face area of the iPod, sans the screen and click wheel. It also covers a portion of the back, leaving the middle part exposed. However, when used in conjunction with a PodShield, I believe this to be the best scratch protection for the iPod without adding any bulk to it the way so many other protective skins and cases do.

The last skin we tested was an Xbox version. This was one of the “Ghost in the Box” series skins, and saying that it is highly detailed is an understatement. It is so detailed in fact, that you can miss some of the detail of you don’t look close enough. They even have the back of the Xbox covered, which results in a skin that covers just about every flat surface on the Xbox. While a lot of it certainly is never going to be given a second look while the Xbox is across the room in an entertainment center, it is cool nonetheless.

DecalGirl certainly has something going here. Many people are into personalizing their stuff, to somehow prove to the world that they are an individual - or to just to improve upon the original manufacturer’s design. The skins are greatly detailed, and are made of a high quality acrylic. You can peel them off, and put them back on with no problems - and it doesn’t leave any sticky residue on the item you affix it to. The skins are an inexpensive way to express yourself, and I think just about anyone will be able to find one that fits them out of DecalGirl’s large selection. Check them out at the DecalGirl website.